Sleeper Awoken
by la la la dannee bean
Summary: It was always amusing to watch Inu Yasha eat dirt every time she uttered the word sit, but he was beginning to get on her nerves. Not to mention his old friends kept popping up, and previous enemies kept trying to kidnap Kagome. She just wanted to study!
1. When she met her research

Dannee: And so...I soon discover that with all those noxious fumes coming from my cooking pan, ideas bloom...so we'll see what this smells like. And please, if you like this story, review, because I love hearing what you people who aren't me have to say!  
  
Cat: ::Scoffs:: She doesn't know how to cook!  
  
Dannee: ::Dumps all her failed dinner recipes on top of Cat's head, then watches her squirm::  
  
Disclaimer: I know, as well as you people know, that I don't own Inu Yasha or anything that remotely pertains to him, except his pants. Cat will do ANYTHING for chocolate.  
  
Cat: Cat likes to eat chocolate!  
  
Sleeper Awoken  
  
The note had been passed from across the room without being seen by the teacher...stealthy little note...damned note. All she had been trying to do was learn about the history of the Shikon No Tama, and the miko who had protected it with her life. She was even trying to learn about the Royal Family who sheltered the lowly miko, and the Family's youngest son who fell in love with her, but then that note!  
  
Actually, Kagome had been trying to catch up on some much needed sleep that was lost in the battle of the night, fighting wars against numbers and letters that just wouldn't fit together...Dammit!  
  
The moment the note found itself on Kagome's desk, her teacher took that chance to attack her, like a hawk on a small rabid bunny that just wanted to sleep a little. The ruler had hit her desk with such force, it caused the slender piece of wood to snap in half and spring back to hit the teacher right on the schnoz. That didn't improve Kagome's teacher's mood either.so in order to make up for missing important information, Kagome was to serve after school detention in the classroom, researching everything she could about the sacred jewel, and the whole lot that pertained to it.  
  
'Man,' Kagome thought bitterly to herself, 'Why is it that I have to stay after to do research, when teacher just leaves? It's not fair! I didn't even get to read what the note said, and it probably wasn't for me anyways.'  
  
She slammed the book shut, sending her four research papers into a lazy dance away from her desk and propped her head up against her hand. It was already getting dark, and she had nobody to walk home with.  
  
'I'm not afraid of the dark or anything.I just have no sense of direction when I can't see anything, just like any other normal person!'  
  
Kagome decided to call it quits on her research, already knowing more than she'd ever want to know about the Royal Family, and the miko, and the youngest son, and the Shikon No Tama, and the list would just continue for four pages if she recited it all in her mind. She gathered the papers that peppered the floor and shoved them into her lousy excuse of a book bag, then got up and left the classroom.  
  
As she strolled casually down the deserted hallways of her school, her bag decided to betray her, give up, and the bottom ripped open completely, spilling the contents from within all over the floor.  
  
"Aaaaugh!" Kagome's frustration echoed off the walls, and she scowled at her schoolwork.  
  
She bent over unhappily to retrieve her belongings. Her history book was first into her arms, followed by her notebooks, her pencil case, blank papers, then math book; which under it's weight, she faltered slightly. She prepared to rise again when she noticed four papers scattered on the floor. The symbols that were drawn on her research did come out nicely she decided as she gathered the papers for the second time that night.  
  
Finally, having all schoolwork gathered and secured, Kagome left the building that caged her life and began to stride home briskly.  
  
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.  
  
"Aww." Kagome's whine was lost to the night, and she pouted at the thought that nobody would hear and come to her rescue.  
  
Where was her supposed knight in shining armor now, eh? Hojo had promised her that he'd always be there when she needed help, but he wasn't here now! Not that his company or assistance would be much help anyways.conversations with the clueless boy were always strained on Kagome's part, and his assistance would almost certainly not be better.  
  
It was cold out, being December 11th and all, and Kagome's arms were beginning to grow weary of carrying two textbooks, and whatever else she had with her; she couldn't remember, plus she really didn't care at this point.  
  
Kagome set her books down by her feet and leaned back against the brick wall behind her. If she wasn't going to find her way home any time soon, might as well take a break and search for home with some of her strength. Why did she have such a hard time navigating in the dark? This wasn't the first time this had happened, and her mother would never do anything to help her with it. Perhaps come pick her up from school if she wasn't home by a certain time? Or maybe a cell phone so Kagome could at least call to inform her of her whereabouts...or lack of knowledge in. Even going so far as to installing a flashlight in a new book bag could assist in these journeys.  
  
The wind abruptly blew past Kagome at an alarming rate, making her midnight black hair and forest green skirt billow out and about wildly, causing Kagome to shriek like a bird and bat at her skirt wildly in attempt to keep it at bay. Even if nobody was around to see, she still had her modesty in tact, and preferred to keep it that way.  
  
"No no no!!!!" She commanded at her research papers angrily as they took off down the street with the wind.  
  
Without thinking, Kagome took off in hot pursuit of her studies, afraid of the consequences if she showed up in class tomorrow without proof of her detention, since her teacher wasn't around to note she was there anyways. As she jogged hastily behind the four white spots in the distance, she didn't see the root sticking out of the pavement and tripped over it at full speed.  
  
'Why does today hate me so much?' Kagome's mind whined miserably as she lay sprawled out on the ground.  
  
She sat up labouredly and turned her head to look down at the offending root that had tripped her and left her in quite an immodest position. Her knee was bleeding, she could feel the warm blood trickling down her cold leg and she put a hand on the ground to help push herself up. That's when she noticed thing number one that was wrong...a handle in the pavement.  
  
Kagome's head swiveled to look at the metal object her hand was touching, and she squinted in the dark to get a better look at it. Well, it was black, and blended into the black around her perfectly. She tugged on it lightly, wondering if it would remove itself from the ground and she could take it home as a souvenir. Nah, nothing would ever be that easy; that's when thing number two that was wrong made itself apparent. Whatever was attached to the handle lifted up with it.  
  
'What the hell? A trap door?'  
  
Kagome proceeded to lift the entire door open and poked her head inside the hole that was surprisingly...not so black inside. Something was hiding in that hole, and that something was glowing a light shade of pink and white. Kagome's imagination immediately took flight as she imagined what would be inside; fireflies that would surround her, to her absolute fascination, then lead her to a secret underground world where there would be no such thing as math, with its insolvable puzzles, or history, or Royal Families, sacred jewels, mikos, or anything that would involve school like activities.  
  
She let her imagination get the best of her, and hopped down into the trapped door excitedly. When she landed on the bottom, she was immediately bathed in a warm pink and white glow, and she realized that whatever was giving off that shine was not fireflies. There was a long passageway that went forward from where Kagome was for about twenty feet, then it dumped out into a room that was just about sparkling with brilliant pink light.  
  
The light that bathed her body was warming in a soothing kind of way. Kagome's injured knee was soon forgotten, along with all the other problems of the day, and she slowly toddled down the corridor contently. While she sauntered towards the bright room, she didn't notice the elegant engravings on the walls that practically screamed what she had just researched at her. Something about the light held her full attention, and it attracted her to it, like a moth without a mind, going for one of those purple moth zappers. Right now though, it didn't matter if she was going to be zapped, this light was all but calling out her name, and so onward she went, oblivious to everything but the radiance.  
  
Once Kagome reached the room she was heading for, she stopped in the entrance to absorb what she was seeing.  
  
It was like a giant castle room. It was huge! The ceiling had been painted with portraits that reminded Kagome of pictures she had seen of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, and this one was at least thirty feet high! Kagome didn't recall going underground that deep, but who cares? Not her, especially not now, for she wasn't done being engrossed by her surroundings.  
  
In the middle was a king sized, four-poster bed with down comforters made out of satin. The posts went at least half way up the height of the ceiling, where a web of silk intertwined to make a cover that was draped over all four bedposts and hung down to where it just barley touched the floor. Within that beautiful tent was where the source of the light was coming from, and Kagome couldn't keep her curiosity tamed, like a small kitten that didn't know when to stop.  
  
The whole scene looked like a bedchamber from a castle that used to be 500 years or so ago. It was what Kagome had always imagined them to be like, minus the fact that this bedchamber was buried deep beneath the surface of the earth.  
  
Kagome took slow careful steps towards the center of the room, where the enormous bed stood. The pink light from within should've been blinding by now, but it didn't hurt Kagome's eyes she realized. Her hand went out when she was close enough to the fabric and felt it with her fingertips. She discovered that it was amazingly soft and thin, and took more into her hand to rub against her cheek. It must've been woven from the finest silk anyone could ever have afforded, and Kagome had to convince herself not to strip the giganto bed of it's tent cover and run off with it for herself, though what she would do with it, she did not know.  
  
She found an opening and parted the material carefully, afraid it might tear. Additional pink light spilled into the already lit room and Kagome's mouth peeled into a grin. She didn't know why it did, and she couldn't help it, it just felt like she had found something she had been searching for all her life. She sat down on the side of the bed, examining the opaque orb that was floating slightly above the covers to the bed. She wanted to snatch it then and there, but there was something that would just seem wrong about that. Along with wanting to snatch the sphere, she also wanted to ascertain how and why it was floating a couple of inches above a raised lump under the covers to the bed.  
  
Kagome's brow creased as she realized that indeed, there was something under the covers...or rather someone. She bit her lip as realization dawned upon her. There was a pink boy lying on the bed under the covers, looking to be in a deep slumber. Well, she was sure that the boy wasn't pink, but the pink luminance that lit the whole underground chamber turned everything pink. Despite his color, he looked boyishly handsome Kagome noted.  
  
His hair looked as if it was made out of the same material the cover to the bed had been made out of, and even in the pink, Kagome noticed how his dark thick eyebrows definitely contrasted his light silky hair. His eyelashes were short and curled upwards slightly, and his nose was somewhat pointed, though it was cute, nonetheless. Kagome poked his cute nose and giggled at how warm it felt against her fingertip.  
  
When she had pulled her finger away from his face, she realized that there was something wrong with his face. Ears...where were his ears??? She gasped when she found them. Two furry puppy dog-ears perched atop this boy's head, and they looked slightly drooped over and inattentive. Kagome couldn't help herself and reached out and began to stroke them between her thumbs and forefingers. The moment she did that they snapped into an alert posture and commenced in swiveling about in a fashion that reminded Kagome of radar. That fueled her giggling and the ears drooped into a dormant position once again.  
  
What was all this? Kagome shook her head and looked towards the floating ball once again. It was about the size of a medium jawbreaker she thought, realizing that she hadn't eaten since the very early morning. Having touched everything else that she had wanted to touch, Kagome decided that it was time to see what was up with this glowing sphere.  
  
Her slender hand outstretched neatly, and she let the small orb plop down into her palm. It was warm. Really warm, and it felt nice. It seemed to warm Kagome's whole body. She shut her eyes in relaxation, and the moment she had done so, she realized that it had been a mistake.  
  
The moment the large warm hand grabbed onto her wrist, Kagome's eyes shot open and she screamed. 


	2. Kagome's angry puppy

Cat: ::Is throwing a tantrum on the floor::  
  
Dannee: ::Looks down at the tantruming muse:: What's your problem?  
  
Cat: Cat has helped Dannee with her story, but Cat has gotten no chocolate or ice cream! Just Dannee's bad cooking! What's up with that!?!?  
  
Dannee: You're going to get fat if you eat too much ice cream.  
  
Cat: Better than eating Dannee's cooking. Her cooking makes Cat lumpy.  
  
Dannee: All right! I'll never cook for you again!  
  
Cat: All right!!! Can Cat have ice cream now?  
  
Disclaimer: Man, who needs Inu Yasha when you've got his pants!? Well...I truthfully don't own Inu Yasha or any one near or around him. All I've got is his pants...even if they aren't rightfully mine.  
  
Sleeper Awoken  
  
Kagome's burgundy brown eyes locked with the boy's fiery golden yellow ones and she gasped. Had she awoken him from his slumber? Why did he look just about as shocked as she did? When was dinner? Questions raced through her mind faster than she could comprehend as the two held a silent staring war. She winced as his hand squeezed her wrist tightly, razor sharp claws sinking into her soft skin, her own grip on the small jewel intensifying when he didn't let go.  
  
"Ow! Let me go!" Kagome demanded sharply when he clutched her wrist harder.  
  
He didn't comply, seeming a little out of it, yet Kagome took this as a threat and tried to yank her hand away from him. His claws sank further into her skin and she cried out in pain loudly as the pink light coming from within her hand tripled in its brilliance. Kagome had to close her eyes from the brightness, and she could hear the boy gasp from beside her, then felt her wrist be freed from within his iron grip and sighed out, pleased. Her eyes slowly slid back open and she opened her hand that had recently been occupied by the small sphere and found nothing...  
  
"What?" She queried aloud.  
  
She looked to the boy to see if he would hold any of the answers she was seeking, and discovered...nothing. He would've looked smarter if he had been drooling, but that was one of the lacking attributes to his face at the moment. He just stared at Kagome blankly as if she was either a ghost, some sort of phantom, a witch, a curse, a horrible reeking steaming pile of dog shit, or something much much worse.  
  
"What!?" She spat at him angrily, hating it when people gawked mindlessly.  
  
"K-Kikyo...?" He mumbled almost incoherently.  
  
Kagome shook her head at him, frowning slightly. Where had the small ball of light gone? She hadn't dropped it; it was almost like it had just disappeared into her body.  
  
"Where did it go?" She questioned out loud.  
  
"Into you. You're it's protector...you should know that, Kikyo. But how...are you still alive?" He almost matched question with question, which was one of Kagome's top ten pet peeves.  
  
"Will you stop calling me Kikyo!? That's not my name! It's Kagome, and I don't know what you're talking about! I've never seen that little ball of light before in my life, so how can I be it's protector!?"  
  
The boy's gentle golden eyes hardened at Kagome's words, which caused her to shift on his bed nervously. When angry, he looked kinda like a pissed off dog...a very cute pissed off dog that Kagome would've loved to take home and shove in her backyard forever any day.  
  
Quite suddenly, and very much unwantedly, the boy righted himself into a sitting position and leaned forward and abruptly began sniffing Kagome. Kagome didn't know how to react to this, and her body stiffened to the unwanted action being preformed onto her rather unceremoniously. She could hear him inhaling deeply and she could only hope that her hair did not get sucked into his nose and forever become a part of him.  
  
"What...exactly do you think you're doing? I don't know where you've been, but in this day and age, it's rude to...sniff people." Kagome informed him.  
  
He leaned back and looked at Kagome with careful scrutiny, furry ears on his head rotating about once again.  
  
"Who are you?" He demanded angrily.  
  
Kagome paused in answering to frown at him.  
  
"Who are you?" She matched question with question, her number six pet peeve.  
  
His features turned unsentimental again, and his scowl complimented Kagome's nicely.  
  
"You've never heard of me?"  
  
Kagome shook her head sincerely, frown disappearing into her face.  
  
"Never. So who are you?"  
  
"I can't believe you've never heard of me!" His ears flattened against his skull in a fashion that made Kagome want to squeal, tear them off, put them into a little box and carry them around with her wherever she went.  
  
She reached for the endearing little ears, and he batted at her hands lightly. She watched him expectantly, righting herself as he puffed his chest out proudly.  
  
"My name is Inu Yasha of-"  
  
"THE ROYAL FAMILY!?!?"  
  
Kagome's outburst would've sent Inu Yasha flying into the wall behind him if he had not been sitting down in the bed, but the explosion from the petite girl made his hair blow back slightly. He scowled at her, a habit that he was making Kagome quite familiar with.  
  
"Yes." He muttered.  
  
"So then..." Kagome paused, now baffled, trying to put together the pieces in her head. 'This is the youngest son of the Royal Family who was put to sleep to be protected from the final attack of Naraku who was set solely on stealing the sacred jewel to attain ultimate power. His lover, the miko who protected the sacred jewel, Kikyo put him to sleep with her powers to save him, and to keep the sacred jewel safe...  
  
'While his family and Kikyo battled Naraku to keep the jewel safe, he slept soundly underground with the Shikon No Tama in his care...and nobody ever knew what happened to him, or where to find him or the Shikon No Tama...It's almost like a modern day Sleeping Beauty, except different! And I've found him!'  
  
Kagome couldn't hide her rising excitement, and let out a small squeal of glee. Oh the possibilities she could do with a member of the Royal Family! She could take him to school with her and show him off to all her friends, make him do all the chores around the house for her...PERSONAL BODYGAURD!  
  
As Kagome practically vibrated with overflowing joy, Inu Yasha watched on irritated. His mouth was pursed into a small line of anger and his left eye twitched, a quirk that had followed all the male members of his family through generations. His eyebrows were lifted high, and his ears remained squashed against his cranium forcefully in attempt to keep out the high- pitched giggles escaping the wench who was sitting on the side of his bed. What the hell did she think she was doing!? Waltzing into his bedchamber, sitting on his bed, stealing the Shikon No Tama. No! Not on his watch!  
  
He jumped up into a crouching position on the bed, ready to spring at the shuddering girl at the drop of a hat. He had to protect the Shikon No Tama at any cost, that's what his family was for, the protection of the sacred jewel and its miko.  
  
As Inu Yasha prepared to pounce Kagome looked over at him, and her face twisted into that of a look of bewilderment. Inu Yasha temporary halted his attack on her and studied her a moment longer. She DID look an awful lot like Kikyo...and how was it that she had been able to remove the Shikon No Tama from it's animated suspense above his comatose form. Only the Shikon's miko was allowed to touch it without corrupting it...and the orb had disappeared into this eccentric girl's body. But that would have to mean that...  
  
"Oh god, how long was I asleep for?" Inu Yasha blurted aloud.  
  
Kagome felt the threat from him leave for the moment and thought for a moment.  
  
"Well...according to the research I had to conduct after school today...approximately 500...years...?"  
  
She watched his face turn from confused, to more confused, to anguished, to a lovely blend of the two, then to disbelief.  
  
"No. No, hah, I don't believe you. You're a liar, you're mental, and you don't know what the hell you're talking about. There's no way that I could've been asleep for 500 years, because that would mean that..." He stammered out.  
  
Kagome nodded slowly, afraid he was the one who was mental. Being asleep for 500 years could have some side effects, or bring on some serious psychological issues.  
  
"Believe me, I know all about it, I had to stay after school today to research on you and your stupid family. I wrote four pages of information, and spent three hours looking through different books that were more than 1,000 pages long! Don't you tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about!"  
  
Inu Yasha bit his lip in mystification. What the fuck was a school!? Some sort of torture chamber where they send teenagers? He scrunched his face up in anger. He must've been asleep for awhile...but 500 years!? Oh gods, it couldn't be true!  
  
"I don't believe you! Get out of my room, you psychotic girl! How the hell you got in here is beyond me, GET OUT!" He roared.  
  
Kagome scrambled away from her spot on the bed like a bum scrambling for a dollar as the deranged member of the Royal Family slashed at her with his extended claws. He jumped at her, hacking about wildly, ripping the silk canopy over his bed to pieces much to Kagome's disappointment. She jumped to the side as he lunged at her again and managed to kick him in the shin as he tried to grab out with his claws once again.  
  
It was almost like an elaborate dance between the two with much material shredding and bumbling around. Kagome fled down the hallway from his room and all but climbed up the wall beneath the trapped door that led to her freedom. Once she had popped out from within, she slammed the door shut as to prevent the strong puppy-dog-eared boy from escaping; not that it would do much good anyways.  
  
Once the door had been slammed down, securing the boy's fate in Kagome's eyes, she fled down the street with new and revived energy to find her house.  
  
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.  
  
Dannee: Well, that's where I leave it until next time...YOU PEOPLE BETTER REVIEW!!! ::Shakes fist ominously::  
  
Cat: ::Munching on Christmas cookies and fudge in the other room:: Cat reviewed.  
  
Dannee: You don't count, because you already know what's going to happen.  
  
Cat: Oh yeah......................MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Dannee: Stop eating all my cookies!  
  
Cat: ::Covers the cookies and crumbs with her torso, bristling and hissing::  
  
An extra thanks to Iden's Garden for reviewing on the first chapter! Hopefully this chapter answered your question adequately. Until next time, and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, the whole enchilada to everyone!!!  
  
Good Christmas Present to Give to Dannee = REVIEWS! 


	3. SCHNORT!

Dannee: Well I hope everyone had happy holidays, whatever you may celebrate. This year's Christmas has definitely been one of the best.  
  
Cat: ::Comes in with an armful of an assortment of candy canes, fudge pieces, Lucky Charms cereal boxes, sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, raisin oatmeal cookies, Sees candies and Bubble Tapes:: Cat's favorite Christmas was this Christmas for many different reasons.  
  
Dannee: Reasons being what's in your arms, right?  
  
Cat: ::Nods fanatically, spilling some of her arm's contents on the floor::  
  
Dannee: ::Grins:: As for me, well... "Santa" has so generously bestowed the gift of Final Fantasy X1 upon us, and I've been playing almost nonstop...so I'm sorry to the few reviewers who're actually looking forward to my updates...hehe.  
  
Cat: That means that Dannee's not cooking, eating, sleeping, hanging with her boyfriend, moving, cleaning the kitchen, mopping the floors, clearing out the chimney, or, in short, moving from her spot at the computer for approximately 3-4 weeks. After that, maybe Cat will be able to pry her from her spot and force her to write more...  
  
Sleeper Awoken  
  
Kagome had found her house the previous night by luck. Quite some lucky luck too...her mother just so happened to be on her way to pick up her little brother Sota from a friend's house when she found Kagome making a beeline down the sidewalk as fast as her slender legs could take her in the opposite direction she was driving. The moment her head hit the pillow that night, sleep welcomed her quickly.  
  
It was good in a way, that Kagome was too exhausted to even think straight when she had gone to bed, for a full night's rest was in order...but it was also bad in an entirely different way. Because, as Kagome dreamed happy thoughts of running off to alternative worlds without any subjects known as "math" or "history", she did not hear her little brother Sota cry out in the dark. She would have to wait until morning came to find out that her little brother was now in the hospital for reasons that she would later find terrifying and unexplainable.  
  
But now, at 12:23 PM she was just barley beginning to wake up. The events of the previous day flooded into her mind as images of angry pink dog boys danced through her mind along with floating pink spheres that disappeared into her without her consent.  
  
Once Kagome had gotten up and headed downstairs, she found not a trace of anybody that belonged to her family. Not even a note telling her of their whereabouts.  
  
'That's funny.' She thought to herself. 'Mom always tells me where they're going if nobody's going to be home. And she didn't leave me breakfast...'  
  
Kagome searched through the pantry in search of suitable breakfast items but found nothing but a few cups of instant Ramen and some fruit snacks Sota always insisted on having around the house. Kagome pulled out a pack of fruit snacks and munched upon each individual fruit shape mercilessly, walking back up towards her room.  
  
'What's this?'  
  
She bent over to examine the small white object on the floor in Sota's doorway, and then picked it up.  
  
A tiny tooth.  
  
Kagome had remembered Sota saying something about losing a tooth a few days ago ecstatically. Naturally her mother had told the boy to put it under his pillow so the "Tooth Fairy" could give him a quarter or some other miniscule amount of money that would barley buy a gumball. She put the tooth in her pocket passively and headed back to her room.  
  
She sighed, plopping down onto her bed, throwing the trash from the fruit snacks onto the floor.  
  
What was there to do with nobody around and nothing to study?  
  
Absolutely nothing, that's what.  
  
'That's right...' Kagome reflected. 'I forgot to pick up my school work after I ran out of that room last night. Well, at least I have an excuse to not do my math and history work for a couple of days.'  
  
Ring...ring...ring...  
  
Her head perked up instinctively at the sound of the phone ringing loudly downstairs.  
  
'Woo hoo, someone to talk to!'  
  
Relieved at the possibility of a conversation with someone other than herself, Kagome jumped off her bed and raced downstairs rapidly. She picked up the periwinkle phone, then asked pleasantly into the receiver...  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Kagome?"  
  
Yay, mother dear, where the hell are you?  
  
"Hey mom, where is everyone?"  
  
"...we're at the hospital."  
  
Kagome ignored the bolt of astonishment that ran through her body.  
  
"H-hospital, why?"  
  
"...It's Sota..."  
  
"Sota! What happened to Sota, mom!? Why didn't you wake me up and take me with you!?"  
  
"I'm sorry for not waking you up, but we figured that if you didn't wake up after Sota screamed and woke everyone else up, and the ambulance came to take him to the hospital...well, you were just too tired."  
  
"Is Grampa there with you guys?"  
  
"Yes, he'll be home to make dinner for you later tonight..."  
  
Kagome's face turned from pale to blue.  
  
"I'll manage, he can stay. But...why? Why is Sota in the hospital?"  
  
"We don't know yet...He started screaming last night around 3...I thought he was having another nightmare about one of his video games, but when I turned on the light to check on him...it was like...some body had cut him all over..."  
  
"Cut? Like...knife cut?"  
  
"Really big knife cuts...four lined up next to each other all over his body. Oh Kagome, we don't know what happened. Nobody broke into the house, his window was locked...I just don't know..."  
  
"Don't worry mom, I'm sure Sota will be fine. Just...call me if you need me, alright?"  
  
"Right, Kagome. I'll call you as soon as he wakes up. Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
This...  
  
Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!!!!!!! This wasn't good!  
  
Kagome's eyes darted from left to right as she backed herself against the wall behind her.  
  
She had heard of something like this before. Little children haunted in the night by some unseen force that nobody could explain! Waking up screaming, because the man in their dream with the knives for fingers was really cutting their flesh.  
  
Yes...  
  
Yes...she had definitely heard of this tale somewhere before. A MOVIE! That was it! It was some...stupid movie that was all made up in the mind of some twisted man and put onto film. That didn't help the situation at hand.  
  
But...what if...the movie was coming true?  
  
The man with the knives for fingers...  
  
"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" Kagome wailed as the phone began to ring loudly in front of her.  
  
She picked it up warily.  
  
"H-hello?"  
  
Dial tone.  
  
Oiiiiii...  
  
If someone had chosen this time to sneak up behind Kagome and shout 'Boo!' at her, they would've gotten a pretty good laugh watching her jump right out of her skin, and then watch her melt into a small puddle of clothes and hair on the ground.  
  
Thank the gods that there weren't any cruel people home right now, because Sota would've loved to do just that...  
  
Sota...  
  
Kagome looked at the phone worriedly. She hoped he was alright, even if he was annoying, and whiney, and liked to scare her, and used all the hot water in the shower, and always ate the last fruit snack package. He was her little brother after all, and despite the occasions when she wished she could change that, she loved him in that big sisterly way all big sisters should love their little brothers.  
  
Now all she could do was wait.  
  
Wait for her mother to call, no matter how long it took.  
  
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.  
  
Kagome exhaled through her nose heavily, causing it to make a whining noise as the air rushed out.  
  
It was already dark outside, unfortunately...which absolutely creeped the hell out of Kagome. She sat alone in the kitchen with a cup of microwave- able Ramen and the TV was on at full blast in the other room, so she couldn't hear the creaking of the house, the wind outside, or the crash from upstairs...  
  
Kagome blued.  
  
Crash from upstairs? She had definitely heard glass shattering from upstairs, but she didn't want to risk going up there to find out what had caused it.  
  
'That's it, you coward. Just wait in the kitchen with your cup of Ramen for the enemy to find you and attack you.' Her mind taunted.  
  
'It's alright. I can hide somewhere.' Her mind countered against herself.  
  
Her eyes searched frantically, desperately, for a spot to stuff herself into until all potential danger had passed.  
  
Sad to part with her cup of just heated Ramen, she abandoned it and ran towards the pantry, flinging the door open the moment her hand made contact with the knob, then pulling it shut as fast as she could once she was safely inside.  
  
She willed her breath to be more quiet, and her heart to stop thumping so terribly loudly, afraid that the said two would give away her position.  
  
She could hear the muffled 'thmp thmp thmp' of footsteps on the carpeted stairs now, heart picking up it's speed as she realized that whoever was in the house was coming downstairs.  
  
She was downstairs!  
  
No, stay upstairs!  
  
Go away, we don't want any!  
  
'Oh. My. Gods.' Kagome's mind buzzed hysterically. 'What if it's a killer!? What if they're the one who did Sota in and they're after me next! Aiee!! Rapist! Gods, please no, please let me stay hidden in here! Don't find me, don't find me, don't find me!!!!!'  
  
The footsteps stopped in the entrance to the kitchen, then continued into the kitchen.  
  
The soft slap of bare feet echoed loudly in Kagome's head as she swam in the terrible thoughts her mind presented to her one after another. At least the insane-serial-killer-rapist-criminal-murderer-assassin-slayer-of- the-innocent-slaughterer had the decency and respect to take off his shoes before entering someone's house...and killing them.  
  
The noise stopped. Time seemed to stand still to the girl who stood paralyzed with fear in the pantry. Then...  
  
SCHNORT!  
  
Kagome urped.  
  
What was that?  
  
Schhhhnort!  
  
There it was again.  
  
What the hell was that!?  
  
Any executioner that made that kind of noise had to be some sort of pig...or...something.  
  
Strangely though, that unbelievably loud sniffing/snorting noise sounded familiar. Could it be?  
  
Kagome couldn't help it. She had to see if it was...  
  
She cracked the door to the pantry open just a tiny crack, enough to see out of, and sure enough...  
  
Inu Yasha!  
  
Of course, he wasn't entirely as she had remembered him from the previous night in all pink. In her eyes, it suited him well, but that was because she loved the color, yet his colors fit him good too.  
  
He was dressed in some odd bright red garb, fluffy white puppy ears perched atop his head, cute as ever.  
  
Just as she readied herself to make a wild dash towards the curious dog-boy at her table, examining her Ramen, images of clumsy escape tactics flashed through her mind. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to follow through with the previous thought of glomping the unsuspecting puppy-boy that was sniffing at her Ramen again.  
  
Well this was unfair.  
  
He sat down with a suspicious glare at the cup of Ramen before him, then began to devour it at inhumanly speeds.  
  
'What does that jerk think he's doing!?' Kagome thought angrily. 'He chases me out of his room unceremoniously, then he crashes through the window upstairs and has the nerve to eat my Ramen!? MY Ramen!!!???'  
  
Kagome was about to protest...and she would've...  
  
Instead she screamed.  
  
It made Inu Yasha drop the empty cup onto the table with a soft clutter of plastic, but that wasn't what Kagome had screamed for.  
  
She had screamed because something razor sharp had penetrated her left side, tearing her soft flesh upon contact. It sent a burning sensation running through her torso as she fell out of the pantry weakly.  
  
She almost hit the floor, but was instead...  
  
Caught by Inu Yasha.  
  
Wooooo! He was warm...  
  
"Kikyo, what's wrong with you!?" He barked down at her.  
  
His face paled as he looked down upon the gaping hole in Kagome's side, then scowled at the pantry as a hollow voice called out from the darkness.  
  
"Thanks for the Jewel of the Four Souls..."  
  
"Give that back, you bastard!" Inu Yasha shouted at the blackness.  
  
Damn...  
  
He looked down at the girl in his arms.  
  
Her eyes were shut, and her body was limp.  
  
"Shit! Kikyo, wake up, we have to protect the Shikon Jewel!"  
  
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.  
  
Dannee: Oh my GOD! I actually have made an update!!! And I've actually gotten a few more reviews! *.* Woo hoo!!!!!!  
  
Cat: ::Puffs out chest proudly:: 'Twas Cat who made her update! Now Cat wants readers to review! ::Continues to puff chest outwards::  
  
Dannee: ::Pokes Cat's chest::  
  
Cat: PFF! ::Exhales sharply, flying into the nearest wall:: Not nice...to Cat...  
  
Dannee: ^^;; Don't be an idiot...you idiot.  
  
Cat: ::Lays on the floor, tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth, drool pooling around her:: Dannee...must fix Cat...with...CANDY!!!!!! @.@  
  
Dannee: ::Subtly ignores Cat:: Well, thank you to my newest reviewers! I really love hearing that you guys like my work! ^________________^  
  
Thanks to:  
  
jazzand friends, nYo, writerofascientist, Iden's Garden (^.^ Yay! You've reviewed 2X now! Thank you thank you thank you!!!! So glad you like it!), Josie, Dreamer Wolf, jazz, and Cat doesn't get a thank you.  
  
Cat: HEY!  
  
Dannee: Myoo hoo hoo. 


	4. That thing in the bathroom

Dannee: ::Sparkly grin:: Hate cliffies, yes? Yep, I hate it when people end it and you just have to wait and wait and WAIT until they get their asses into gear and update. All the writers do it to me, so I figured I'd be mean and try it out once...or twice...or 7 times.  
  
Cat: Dannee is a horrible person with horrible problems.  
  
Dannee: I do NOT have problems! YOU'RE the one with problems.  
  
Cat: Cat knows that, Cat just wanted Dannee to be aware, since Cat is aware of the symptoms. Problems make Cat gassy.  
  
Dannee: I am NOT GASSY!  
  
Cat: Dannee wants to think that. Hooooo. Now give the nice reviewers their chapter, before Iden's Garden detonates herself! Then Dannee can get more reviews for chapter 4! =^.^=  
  
Dannee: ^_____________________________________________________________^ Iden's Garden, my most loyal of reviewers! Cat and I will dedicate this chapter to you, just so you don't hurt yourself!  
  
Sleeper Awoken  
  
...What had just happened?  
  
Was it all just another horribly real dream?  
  
Upon gaining coconsciousness once more, Kagome mumbled and stirred under her heavy covers.  
  
Why'd her side hurt her so bad...?  
  
Like it was burning.  
  
Claret brown eyes opened slowly and Kagome screamed for a second time that night.  
  
Great yellow orbs were staring down at her closely, examining her, studying her.  
  
As she backed herself against her wall defensively, she could make out more of the boy that was staring down upon her. He had been sitting right next to her bed as if he was waiting for her to wake up to roar at her. She didn't like being roared at, she could barley take it when her mom did such a thing, though with her mother it could not be helped.  
  
Currently Inu Yasha's ears were squashing themselves against his skull to keep out the high pitched 'eeps' Kagome kept letting out.  
  
What was she doing!?  
  
There was no time for this!  
  
"Kikyo, what the hell are you doing!? We have to get out of here-" Inu Yasha began.  
  
It was a pitiful sight before him really. Here was the girl he had fallen in love with, sworn to protect, trusted with his own life, cowering against a wall with her arms up in defense. It almost hurt Inu Yasha in a way to see something like this, but his pride wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him.  
  
Well...  
  
Until he saw the gaping wound in her side that was still bleeding heavily.  
  
"Shit, Kikyo!"  
  
He swooped Kagome out of her bed and looked around her room.  
  
Her room was safe, given that her light was on, but the upstairs hallway was a different story.  
  
"How do you make this magic appear?" Inu Yasha inquired, pointing to the light in Kagome's ceiling.  
  
"My light? Uh...You find the light switch, but I don't see why you have to carry me like this!" Kagome protested her current situation.  
  
Inu Yasha ignored her last comment, trying to focus all his energy on figuring out what kind of sorcery a 'light switch' was.  
  
He peered out into the dark hallway carefully, cautious not to let Kagome touch the shadows. Perhaps if he made a beeline for the door at the end of the hallway he could make it in time without...having what happened to Kagome happen again.  
  
Of course he had known that she was in the small room in the kitchen, her heart was hammering so thunderously, it was amazing she hadn't woken up a couple of neighbors and their dogs. But that small white cup with the orange writing on it...that had him more interested.  
  
It had teased his senses until he gave into its temptation.  
  
The touch of steam warming his face...  
  
The soft bubbling sound of warm water running through the thin noodles...  
  
The wonderful aroma that it gave off, like fresh chicken...  
  
The look of the noodles intertwined with one another as if they were dancing together...  
  
And the taste...oooooh, the taste.  
  
It was like heaven in his mouth.  
  
How could someone so dim-witted, such as Kagome, make something that was so wonderful...?  
  
"Are you DROOLING!? Put me down!" Kagome demanded, beginning to squirm in Inu Yasha's arms.  
  
"Quiet, wench, I'm looking for this enchantment you call a light switch."  
  
THUD!  
  
Inu Yasha jumped back about five feet into Kagome's room before he realized what she had done.  
  
She had simply slapped the side of the wall in the hallway by her room and, poof!  
  
Lights!  
  
Yet Inu Yasha had no idea how to react to this...  
  
This...  
  
His ears were flattened again as he glared out into the hallway.  
  
"What're you doing!?!? I'm bleeding, you idiot! Get me some help or put me down!!!" Kagome screeched, batting at his face.  
  
"I don't know what power you hold, witch..." He would've gone on if Kagome hadn't interrupted him with a piercing glare.  
  
He bounded out into the hallway easily, already adjusted to Kagome's light weight, but just to piss her off...  
  
"Wench, you're heavy, hurry and tell me where your medical supplies and antibacterial herbs are."  
  
Her face was the color of his odd kimono.  
  
That...  
  
That was it!!!  
  
"YOU JERK, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!? PUT ME DOWN, I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!!" Kagome wailed at the top of her lungs.  
  
TMP!  
  
Kagome rubbed the sore spot on her ass and looked up at Inu Yasha cagily.  
  
He certainly was taller than her by a long shot, even if she was currently on her butt.  
  
"Don't need me? Fine. I'll stand by and watch you, see if you can do any better without me."  
  
Laboriously, she rose to her feet.  
  
The moment she straightened, her hands clutched her torn left side to ease some of the pain.  
  
She hobbled over to the bathroom at the end of the hall and flicked on the light switch with ease.  
  
She shot Inu Yasha a glare, but he stood impervious to her dirty looks in the middle of the hall.  
  
What was that thing that attacked her in the pantry?  
  
Who was this awkward stranger that wouldn't leave her side?  
  
That jerk.  
  
Jerk!  
  
Jerk!!!  
  
Jerk!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Kagome stamped her foot on the floor to show her anger, but it only caused white-hot pain to explode throughout her torso.  
  
...Gauze, check.  
  
Antibacterial ointment, check.  
  
Extra bandages check.  
  
Medical tape, check.  
  
Doctor...no check.  
  
It was all she needed.  
  
As she dressed her wound silently in the bathroom, Inu Yasha stood like a stone in the hallway.  
  
Was he really the half-demon that they had put to sleep from 500 years ago like all the books said?  
  
Well...how could he be?  
  
All the research done by Kagome pointed towards the evidence in the books that made Inu Yasha actually seem like a decent, caring, kind, loving human being.  
  
Then again, he wasn't human...  
  
If that was possible.  
  
Supposedly his half brother Sesshomaru was full demon, but the two despised each other.  
  
Sesshomaru hated being tied down to serving his family and the miko they were indebted to, but he had no choice, since it was his father's decision to make.  
  
"Hey, hurry up in there!"  
  
Jerk.  
  
"If you're getting tired of standing there for me, you could always just sit down!"  
  
WHAM!  
  
Kagome's face turned from irritated to amused.  
  
He had just thrown himself headfirst into the floor!  
  
She couldn't help it...  
  
Ppppppffffttttt!  
  
Her eyes arched upwards, and her mouth cracked into a grin.  
  
She threw her head upwards and began to laugh feverishly.  
  
Loud, unladylike guffaws floated through the air, dancing about in Inu Yasha's head, despite his best efforts to cover his ears by pressing them down against his head...again.  
  
Of course it was nice to see the young girl finally laugh and be happy about something, but it was rather annoying.  
  
He slowly rose again, fighting off the remaining fragments of the subduing spell he had been put under so many years ago.  
  
Damn that word!!!  
  
Dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
"What was that all about!?" Kagome hiccupped from the bathroom, finishing her healing process.  
  
"Feh." Was all she got in return.  
  
That just made her giggle more.  
  
She walked out of the bathroom slowly and turned off the light.  
  
It was all she did, really.  
  
Then Inu Yasha had to go and get all alert and creep the hell outta her, like there was something in the bathroom.  
  
She looked into the black room and saw nothing but...  
  
Black.  
  
"It's in there, can't you sense it?" He murmured.  
  
"It? What's it!?!?"  
  
"It wants something you have, Kikyo. Otherwise it wouldn't have come back..."  
  
"WHAT'S IT!?"  
  
"It's a demon."  
  
Kagome stumbled over to Inu Yasha and hid behind him.  
  
Yes.  
  
He would make a good shield in the future.  
  
"Demon!? In my house!? And you can sense it!?"  
  
"Think, Kikyo. Focus on the bathroom; see if you can sense the evil aura that's concentrated in there."  
  
Kagome began to concentrate on the bathroom from behind Inu Yasha, then frowned.  
  
"Will you stop calling me Kikyo!? That's NOT my name! My name's Kagome! Ka-Go-Me!!!"  
  
Inu Yasha glowered at her.  
  
"CONCENTRATE!"  
  
"YIEEEEE!"  
  
She snapped into focus and stared into the blackness that overwhelmed the bathroom.  
  
The blackness...  
  
"Wait! That black...it's...it's something-ah..."  
  
She shrunk under the glare Inu Yasha was giving her.  
  
"Yes. That something is the demon that ripped the Sacred Jewel out of you. That demon is the who we have to get it back from!"  
  
"We!? No, no no no no no no no no no."  
  
"What's your problem now?"  
  
"We, as in, we both get it back? As in we both work together? No, no thanks, I'm good."  
  
"WHAT!? It's your DUTY to get back what you're supposed to protect! What's your problem?"  
  
"YOU! And...THAT!"  
  
Kagome's slender finger pointed accusingly at the bathroom.  
  
She could definitely sense it now, the evil aura swirling in the dark.  
  
She shivered.  
  
"GO AWAY!" She shouted at it.  
  
"Feh."  
  
Kagome looked up at the back of Inu Yasha's head heatedly.  
  
"Well what am I supposed to do!?"  
  
"Get the Shikon No Tama back before it become a part of the demon."  
  
"A part...?"  
  
He sighed tetchily, obviously not wanting to explain everything to the confused girl.  
  
"If a demon gets ahold of the Sacred Jewel, and holds onto it long enough, it starts to become one with the demon, supplying it with power. Eventually the demon will become so powerful, it'll be unstoppable and probably end up enslaving most of your filthy kind."  
  
She looked down.  
  
What could she do?  
  
She wasn't any good at combat skills...  
  
Perhaps she could throw a few math problems at it and hope it explodes, like her brain did every math test she took.  
  
Or maybe she'd give it a few names and dates of ancient wars and watch it melt, like her body did every history assignment she was assigned.  
  
"W-what do I do?"  
  
Inu Yasha turned around and looked down at the girl who was gazing at the floor.  
  
"We must fight to get the Sacred Jewel back as quick as possible. Do you have any weapons?"  
  
"Kitchen knives?"  
  
"Sounds weak. Something strong, you've got to have something."  
  
A light bulb clicked on above Kagome's head.  
  
"My mom keeps an old bow and some arrows in the shrine!"  
  
"That might actually work, do you know how to use it?"  
  
"...No."  
  
"You're worthless!"  
  
"I could TRY!"  
  
"Trying isn't good enough!"  
  
"Well it's better than sitting around and doing nothing up here!"  
  
There he went again!  
  
Face first, CRACK, and into the ground.  
  
Kagome passed into a state of hysterics as Inu Yasha lay writing angrily on the ground, trying urgently to get back up.  
  
"Why do you do that!?" She giggled.  
  
"THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT NOW, WENCH!" He bellowed, getting back up again as the spell wore off.  
  
Kagome scowled and nodded.  
  
"Right, let's get the Shikon No Tama back!"  
  
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.  
  
Dannee: HA! Somewhat of another CLIFFIE! ::Ducks as a few readers throw household items at her:: Don't worry, I'll update soon! After I get more reviews, of course!  
  
Cat: ::Picks up a Duster Buster from one of the readers and turns it on:: Nifty. Cat's now. ::Puts the opening on her face and grins as it sucks her cheek in::  
  
Dannee: I certainly hope that some of you sneaky people aren't reading and not reviewing! Even if you don't like it, don't flame it, but tell me how I can make it better! Please! I want reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Cat: ::Turns off the duster buster and rubs the hickey on her cheek it made:: Yes. Cat wants reviews too. Please? The more reviews, the more chocolate!  
  
Dannee: Thanks again to those of you who reviewed chapter 3!  
  
Iden's Garden: Hehe, like this chappie better? Did you explode? I hope it didn't hurt too much. Lol, thanks for reviewing!  
  
Josie: Thanks, I'm glad you like it! I assume you know now who's been slicin' and dicin' Kagome. ^.^  
  
writerofascientist: ^.^ Heh, maybe.  
  
watrsprkl: Yup. Eventually they will, don't worry. I'm glad you like it so far!  
  
Well, that's it, until chapter 5! PLEASE REVIEW!!! ::Gets down on her knees and begs::  
  
Cat: ::Pats Dannee's back:: Cat told Dannee...Dannee has problems. 


	5. Fighting in the dark

Dannee: Look! I'm back again! Sorry it's been awhile, but this week has been nuts...between finals, school, school and more school, it's hard to find time to actually get a life. T.T I miss summer.  
  
Cat: ::Bounces up and down gleefully:: Cat loves summer, it is a time for love to blossom and a time for Cat to swim and eat Popsicles!  
  
Dannee: Well, hopefully after this I'm going to start getting regular updates on this story, though my muse seems to be broken. I'm finding less and less inspiration flowing from her each and every day.  
  
Cat: ::Shrugs:: Cat has been stuck with Dannee's cooking for the past two weeks, and Dannee's cooking alters Cat's inspiration flow. How can inspiration flow when nothing else can? Besides, Dannee has been playing FFXI, excessively, causing even her cooking to worsen. Cat didn't think it was possible.  
  
Dannee: ::Jumps around:: FFXI Yeah! If anyone sees me in the wonderful world of Vana'Diel party with me! Woo hoo! Level 21 Red Mage! We'll kill some giraffes together! ^.^  
  
Cat: ::Looks at Dannee blankly:: Dannee just doesn't make sense anymore when she talks about FFXI. At first it was incoherent mumblings, then some gurgling, now it's gibberish.  
  
Sleeper Awoken  
  
Kagome watched as Inu Yasha's ears twitched, rotated, and twirled about atop of his snowy white head. She wanted, oh so badly, to fondle those adorable little radar systems until they turned black and pruned and maybe even smelled a little. Then, once they were not of use to her anymore, she would shave him bald and perhaps crochet a blanket and a couple of socks out of his hair...white! Now that was something she didn't understand. If he was from a time period that existed 500 years ago, how in the world were they able to bleach his hair to such a pure white tone?  
  
While Kagome was contemplative over how she could steal Inu Yasha's hair and what to make out of it, Inu Yasha gazed down her dark staircase circumspectly.  
  
He needed to get this fool of a girl to some real weapons so she could annihilate the demon in her bathroom as swiftly as possible...before it absorbed the Shikon no Tama into itself.  
  
Of course the only outlets that led to these potential weapons were pitch black...and Inu Yasha knew better than to venture into the dark.  
  
This demon had been around 500 years ago.  
  
It had haunted Kikyo in the dark, because it knew she had the Sacred Jewel, and it wanted it for itself.  
  
She had called it a Tooth Fairy.  
  
This kind of demon normally attacked little kids after they had just lost a tooth...it came to them when it was dark, stole the newly lost tooth, then assaulted the child either until death came, or lights came. It was afraid of light.  
  
It haunted the kids after they had just lost their teeth...because it wanted the teeth...  
  
It wanted the teeth because...well, Inu Yasha had forgotten, because he had almost certainly not been paying attention to Kikyo when she was telling him the demon's motive to collect fresh teeth, and...500 years is a long time to remember something!  
  
"Wench." Inu Yasha snapped.  
  
Kagome's head almost snapped off in fury.  
  
"KAGOME!" She all but exploded at him.  
  
He gave her an aggravated glance out of the corner of his eye before continuing.  
  
"We need to get to this place your mother keeps the weapons with as much light as possible. Do you have a portable sun-making device?"  
  
"You mean a flashlight?"  
  
"Don't get smart with me, woman, we need hurry up and go! I have no time for your smart-ass comments!"  
  
Kagome glowered at the rear of his head.  
  
If he kept it up, the back of his skull was going to have two holes in it from the looks Kagome kept throwing him.  
  
Of course, Kagome, being a smart girl and all (apart from math related subjects) caught onto things promptly.  
  
"Alright, I'll hurry and get the flashlight from my mother's room. Since I doubt you're going to go anywhere while I'm gone why don't you SIT down and wait for me?"  
  
As expected, Inu Yasha's head flew for the ground and was pressed against it by some supernatural force that Kagome was confident she would befriend by the end of the night.  
  
He let a series of muffled curses and bubbling sounds soar from the ground and to Kagome's ears as she tottered down the hall and over to her mom's room.  
  
It was dark.  
  
She stared into the room guardedly.  
  
It was in there, and she could sense it.  
  
She had turned on the lights in the hallway and the hallway seemed safe, so working strictly upon the theory that her brain had just given birth to, Kagome quickly thrust her hand into the darkness, flipped on the light switch, then jerked her hand away as fast as she could.  
  
She watched the room fill with light labouredly.  
  
It was almost as if the demon was trying to fight the light.  
  
With a scream of defeat, the darkness disappeared into the light and Kagome sighed in relief.  
  
Quickly, she ventured over to her mother's night stand, took out the biggest flash light in the drawer, then staggered back over to where Inu Yasha was sitting on the floor.  
  
"So you did sit down and wait for me." She affirmed while cracking a charming half-smile at him.  
  
He flew into the ground once more and Kagome yelped.  
  
"No! I didn't mean it that time!"  
  
"Just don't talk and I'll be happy, your voice is annoying anyways." Inu Yasha snarled while attempting to pry his face off the floor with his hands.  
  
Kagome's face faltered for a moment.  
  
Didn't he know that women were fragile and could break easy?  
  
Did he not realize how hurtful his words could be?  
  
So careless...  
  
So insensitive...  
  
Such a...  
  
"Jerk! You jerk! Is that all you can do, insult me!? Do you think that if you poke and prod at me a little bit I'll run away crying for my mommy!? I'll have you know I was attacked in my own pantry by some...THING, practically ripped in half, been chased around by dog boys, listened to my mother cry on the phone about my brother, lost my history and math homework, served detention for absolutely no reason at all, and you still have the nerve to insult me like I'm some little child when I'm trying my hardest to do something right! You're so thoughtless!" Kagome erupted.  
  
Inu Yasha was going to give this girl a piece of his mind, but bit his lip when he saw the commencement of tears in Kagome's eyes.  
  
Ever since he was little and his mother had cried for him...  
  
He just couldn't stand watching women cry, mainly when it was his fault.  
  
He sat up gradually and looked down the flight of steps, biting his bottom lip the entire time.  
  
"Shine that thing down there and let's go." He mumbled sympathetically.  
  
Kagome obeyed, and with a resounding click, the device in her hand produced instant luminosity.  
  
Inu Yasha took the light-stick from her and then put his arm around her waist.  
  
"What!?" Kagome objected, startled by his sudden move.  
  
"It's so you'll move faster so don't look into it, alright?" Inu Yasha growled beside her.  
  
As they progressively went down the stairs, Kagome began to wonder if the flashlight was really working.  
  
Sure, it shot out a beam of light, but that didn't mean that there wasn't darkness behind them.  
  
Of course, Kagome was a smart one, and she thought right.  
  
"Where do we-" Inu Yasha began.  
  
Rip.  
  
It was a sickening rip that reverberated from behind the two.  
  
A rip that indicated there was trouble behind them...  
  
A rip that sounded not only of clothes shredding, but flesh tearing with it.  
  
A rip that made Kagome begin to scream for another time that night, and made Inu Yasha gasp and fall into the wall beside him.  
  
The flashlight and Kagome both tumbled down the stairs together when Inu Yasha let go of them.  
  
Kagome, having reached the bottom of the steps already, lay still in a tactic that opossums are famous for in defending themselves against predators.  
  
The flashlight on the other hand, rolled away and into the blackness of the living room, leaving one frightened teenager in it's wake and one angry, pissed off, injured half demon still leaning against the wall beside the stairs.  
  
He pushed himself away from the wall in a hurry, to see if Kagome was all right, but...  
  
Intercepted!  
  
Extended claws cut into his right cheek as the demon in front of him swatted him away like a cat would to a butterfly.  
  
He hit the wall a second time, except this time he rebounded off of it and jumped towards the demon with the adrenaline of finally being able to kill a demon once again pumping through his veins, driving him to go fourth and fight.  
  
He had missed that.  
  
A flick of his wrist and the demon before him shrieked out before vanishing into the darkness again. His eyes and ears scanned the area for any traces of the dark fairy, knowing that it was bound to pop out at any given time.  
  
Did he hit it? He couldn't quite tell...it had just disintegrated into the darkness all around him. Dammit, he had wanted to fight!  
  
His eyes could pick up images delineated by the moonlight spilling in from outside probably a little bit better than Kagome's could since he was half- demon. It was a trait he always loved to boast to others about, especially when playing games of hide-n'-go-seek in the middle of the night even though it wasn't called hide-n'-go-seek when he used to play it.  
  
...But now was not the time for reminiscing about childish games!  
  
That good-for-nothing girl could be in trouble!  
  
Inu Yasha's worries were confirmed when a girly squeal resounded in his skull.  
  
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"  
  
The only action that could adequately demonstrate Inu Yasha's next movement would have to be soar. He flew into the room that Kagome was playing dead in so fast that it would've made an eagle dive-bombing in on it's prey wonder what just flew by.  
  
It appeared as if an instant after Kagome had began to inhale to scream Inu Yasha was at her side. Even in the dark she could tell that he was inspecting her for injuries, threats, etc.  
  
"What's wrong with you, girl!?" Inu Yasha barked down at her.  
  
"Something...furry against...my leg!" She panted up at him, trying hard not to squirm against the 'something furry' pressing against her thigh.  
  
Inu Yasha got down on all fours and started feeling around for the flashlight he had dropped and would soon blame Kagome for losing. Claws made contact with cool black metal while he was feeling blindly around under the couch and he rose onto his legs once again, flashlight in hand.  
  
"How do you turn this damned thing on?" He queried, fiddling with the light's apex.  
  
Kagome's teeth ground together noisily as the 'something furry' continued rubbing against her bare leg affectionately. Was it really that hard to turn on a stupid flashlight!?  
  
Inu Yasha's face, once hidden in the darkness was illuminated in light within a moment as he finally figured out how to turn on the flashlight in his hand. His pupils instantly contracted to keep out the offending brightness shining directly into his eyes. They looked like short pieces of black thread in a puddle of gold.  
  
After letting out a sequence of unhealthy words that would later require Kagome to shower in order to clean herself, the beam of radiance shone down to Kagome. She pointed downwards and the light followed to where she pointed.  
  
"Myeeeeeeeeeeeiow~" Kagome's cat virtually sang in annoyance.  
  
"Buyo!" Kagome screeched, causing the normally lethargic cat to jump backwards and arch it's back defensively. "Stupid cat, you scared me!"  
  
Inu Yasha watched the feline and it's valueless owner reunite, resembling lost lovers who had been separated for 5 years. He folded his arms across his chest rigidly, a twinge of envy shooting through his heart.  
  
She was here in her time with the people (and animals) that she loved...where as he...well, he wasn't quite sure where or when he was, and he undoubtedly didn't want to stay. He wanted-needed-to find Kikyo once more. He missed her fanatically, ever since he had woken up. After he had chased Kagome the imposter out of his room, he had laid on his bed in deep thought, trying to straighten things out in his mind.  
  
What had happened to everyone?  
  
Was he stuck here in this time for the rest of his life?  
  
Could he get back to the people that needed him?  
  
But sometimes even 6 hours of nonstop thinking will still render you without the answers you want. Maybe he was just dense...  
  
Kagome watched the half demon in front of her with great inquisitiveness and interest. He had shown her nothing but anger since she had been inopportune enough to meet him, and here he was now, staring off into space, a list of emotions consecutively running across his face. His ears wilted ever so slightly, and his thick eyebrows were pushed together in a look of torment. His eyes shone even in the dark with bottled up sensations, probably from his past life with his past love and past family. Now he had nobody. Kagome would hate to be in his position, considering the circumstances of losing everyone she loved, but then again she wasn't particularly all too fond of her position either as of late. She would've sympathized for him, but...  
  
"Will you STOP shining that light in my eyes!?" She commanded the startled boy.  
  
His features hardened instantly. How could he have ever mistaken this piece of rubbish for his beloved Kikyo? He probably was dense.  
  
"If you would stop smothering that pathetic excuse for an animal, we could get going so I can get out of here." Inu Yasha rumbled back at her.  
  
Kagome bit her tongue and stood up, letting Buyo drop to the floor once again with a plop. Boys will be boys...whatever that meant.  
  
Kagome all but ran to catch up with Inu Yasha as he moodily began heading for the door to the outside world. She collided with his back when he stopped abruptly and grabbed onto the thick red material that was now torn in the back.  
  
'He's hurt!' Kagome mentally noted as her hands slid over his wounds.  
  
What a smart girl she was.  
  
"Inu Yasha!" Kagome began.  
  
"Shh! It's near..." Inu Yasha hissed while shining the flashlight next to the staircase.  
  
Kagome sighed, aggravated, and pounded her fist into the wall beside the door. The small entrance area by the front door was bathed in light instantaneously and Kagome turned to Inu Yasha who had almost jumped through a nearby window when the lights had magically turned on. These supernatural devices would certainly take some getting used to.  
  
He stared angrily down at the girl standing before him, but once she looked up at him he was almost taken aback.  
  
Her face held such concern for him. Why? Go away!  
  
"Inu Yasha..." She murmured softly, taking a step towards him.  
  
His instinct was, of course...RUN AWAY! That would be a bad idea though, since the dark was the only other option to run away into.  
  
Her warm hand made contact with his cheek and swatted it away.  
  
"Don't touch me, woman." He barked.  
  
"But you're bleeding, you need some bandages and-" She started uneasily.  
  
"I don't need your medicinal crap, wench! Getting the Shikon No Tama back right now is what's important! If we don't hurry and get it quickly, then that demon is going to absorb it's powers, and then no one will be able to stop it! Now will you stop delaying what needs to be done!?"  
  
She nodded mutely. This had to be done, then she'd be rid of him, and then she wouldn't have to worry about him. Good deal, jerk.  
  
Kagome grabbed the door's handle in her warm hand, turned it and flung the door open. The darkness from outside seemed to be trying to come inside, nearly pressing itself into the light forcefully. Inu Yasha shone the flashlight into the shadows and they receded a tiny bit.  
  
"Follow me." He demanded.  
  
With that he dove into the blackness, shining the flashlight in front of him. Kagome hounded after him in hot pursuit, shouting protests in his general direction such as "But you don't know where the shrine is!", "You're going the wrong way!", "No! Turn left!", "I can't see you!", and "You stupid idiot!".  
  
The minuscule hairs on the back of Kagome's neck bristled as something soft grazed the back of her arms. She looked around frantically, trying not to run into any obstacles while doing so, and screamed when she saw what was above her.  
  
It was blacker than the midnight sky, which was more of a royal blue color anyways...It was blacker than anything she had ever seen before in her life, blacker than the pantry had been when she had installed herself within it, blacker than the old well in the shrine at night, and blacker than the zombies in Sota's video games. It was like a hole that drained everything around it from light and was currently descending upon Kagome's head.  
  
Of course the only thing she knew of that would help her at the moment was in Inu Yasha's hands probably a few hundred yards ahead of her...so she took the only other option she knew how to use that would most likely assist her. She let out a blood-curdling scream. It worked on her little brother and sometimes even grandpa, so she could only hope...  
  
It...wasn't...working!!  
  
And this thing kept approaching her...she obviously couldn't outrun it, and it was going to be anywhere there was darkness...what could she do now?  
  
She closed her eyes tightly, relieving her eyes of the awful darkness they were being sucked into. She knew the demon was going to come down to her and consume her. She would be absorbed like the sacred jewel she had failed to protect.  
  
'Maybe being absorbed won't hurt...' She hoped.  
  
She didn't even discern when her feet left the earth...  
  
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.  
  
Dannee: ::Wipes some sweat from her forehead:: That took awhile...Eh? But was it worth the wait? ^^;; I hope so. Next chappie will hopefully be out soon. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story for the last chapter:  
  
Iden's Garden, Just Me17, Dragonleaf, Josie, Shiari1, kmf, dragon_game, and...Cat...  
  
In it for the chocolate again I assume?  
  
Cat: Cat saw that 10 pound chocolate bar Dannee has hidden in her cupboard from Christmas time, she can't fool Cat!  
  
Dannee: 10...pounds...Of chocolate? Really?  
  
Cat: No. Cat ate it already.  
  
Dannee: ...  
  
Next chapter may come out quicker than this chapter did, so please review for me and it may come out even quicker if I find that people actually are  
interested in this Fic! 


	6. She lit up like a Christmas tree

Dannee: ::Looks about accusingly at different inanimate objects:: Hmmm...  
  
Cat: ::Stares at Dannee mutely::  
  
Dannee: You people who're supposed to be reviewing...I know who you are. I saw that little list of people who actually have me on their Author Alert list (::beams brilliantly:: I feel so proud, but that's not the point I'm trying to make...). I know who you are, and I know some of you aren't reviewing. So you better start reviewing or I'll start saying names!!!  
  
Cat: This reminds Cat of Cat's most feared teacher calling Cat's name in class because Cat hasn't turned in all of her money for next weeks trip to the national Tar Pits. ::Shudders::  
  
Dannee: PLEASE REVIEW! ::Gets on her knees:: I love hearing everyone's advice and or comments! So please!!!!!! Reviews!!!!! T.T  
  
Cat: No flames please, Dannee is waaay too fragile, and Cat will be sent to the flamer's house to take things out of the dryer and eat everything in the freezer.  
  
Sleeper Awoken  
  
Kagome would've screamed, and she even tried to, but something soft was pressing against her mouth gently yet firmly, preventing her from parting her lips. The wind was blowing her hair about in a wild frenzy as she was carried up and into the trees. It almost felt as if she was flying...  
  
"You really are useless, you know." A gruff voice reported to her from above.  
  
Her eyes popped open in surprise when her brain finally registered the voice from above as a familiar one. It wasn't a friendly voice, but it certainly wasn't the voice of someone, or rather something, that wanted to grate her into ribbons. She pulled her face up over his arm that had been preventing her from chatting earlier.  
  
"Inu Yasha!" She squealed happily.  
  
Oh joy, oh happy days, he had rescued her!  
  
Kagome flung her arms around Inu Yasha's neck the instant she recognized his face in pure relief and even delight. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't sharing the same heart-felt emotions that the tiny girl he was carrying bridal style was.  
  
"Wench! What're you doing!?!?" He gulped nervously.  
  
This wasn't Kikyo, she wasn't allowed to touch him!  
  
"You saved me, I'm so relieved, I thought I was a goner down there!" She squeaked out, smiling brightly up at him.  
  
He avoided looking into her eyes, they reminded him too much of Kikyo, and it made him feel like his heart was doing cartwheels in his chest. He just continued to stare directly forward, where the flashlight's beam was pointing.  
  
"It's just what I have to do."  
  
Her smile didn't fade for once.  
  
"Well thank you for doing it."  
  
He snuck a tiny peek down at Kagome's face curiously. The only emotions he had ever seen splayed across her face were the angry and irritated ones he had provoked out of her. He didn't know if he had ever seen her smile, so he couldn't help it...  
  
Kagome had a weird thing with emotions that worked to her advantage. The way she conveyed her feelings through her facial features was just about whatever she wanted it to be. If she was angry, her scowls would darken her features and could be absolutely terrifying (though Inu Yasha would never admit that she had scared even him once or twice before.). If she wasn't happy with something, her pout was endearing while at the same time clearly showing her displeasure. When she was sad, the looks of sorrow that crossed her face could break onlooker's hearts, while at the same time the anguished looks she scarcely let show were inexplicably elegant. Her smile on the other hand was different...  
  
Even through the shadows that weren't being bathed in light by the flashlight Inu Yasha was holding, he could clearly see her smiling up at him, like there was a warm glow illuminating her face. Her soft brown eyes were shining brightly up at him, and she was giving him the most honest smile he had ever received from anyone in his life.  
  
Nobody had ever smiled so sincerely...so thankfully at him that it made his ego swell up maybe just a couple notches, pride bubbling in his chest. His mother had certainly smiled at him before, but not this openly...  
  
And Kikyo...  
  
Her smiles were rare and far apart from one another. It was like giving a child a scoop of ice cream for doing something good...like a reward. Inu Yasha always tried his hardest to make Kikyo smile at him, though most his efforts never truly paid off. Sure the two were in love and all, but he never felt like he truly pleased the girl. He felt like a puppy to her, begging all the time for a treat.  
  
Of course when Kikyo did smile for him, he felt like his heart would explode. The way her rosy lips would curl up ever so slightly, and the tiny creases that would form in the corners of her eyes...that girl was flawless.  
  
But...  
  
She never smiled at him like Kagome was smiling at him now...  
  
He didn't realize until it was too late that he had drifted off in thought while soaring through the air, staring down at the smiling Kagome. She had him entranced...and that was a bad thing in this case because...  
  
THWACK!!!  
  
Kagome flew out of his arms screeching like an owl the whole way when Inu Yasha collided head first into a thick tree. She had been catapulted from his arms at an angle, narrowly missing the tree as she went, then tumbled across the dirt at a speed that would've rendered most normal people dizzy for approximately a week and a half.  
  
She was only dizzy for a moment after coming to a complete stop, but when she had hit the ground, the impact jarred her side enough to make it explode in searing pain. As she lay writhing on the ground in obvious agony, the flashlight rolled to a stop in front of her as well, bathing her in a radiance that just seemed natural for Kagome to be in.  
  
As Kagome lay basking in artificial sunlight a couple yards away from Inu Yasha, he was still thoroughly pinned into the tree. He had let himself get distracted...damn.  
  
Stupid wench, casting mystical spells upon him until he lost sight of everything in front of him...except for her. Why had he been so captivated by her smile anyways!? Kikyo was the only person in the world who could do that to him.  
  
Damn...  
  
He just wanted to find the sacred jewel, take it back to his room and go to sleep. Perhaps he'd have a lovely dream.  
  
Inu Yasha's face slid out from the indentation it left in the tree with a small 'pop!' and immediately his ears stood vertical.  
  
He could sense it again, and it was close by...  
  
He stumbled away from the giant tree he had just made friends with and peered around it, over to where Kagome was lying.  
  
"Hey!" He called to the dark figure hovering over Kagome's wriggling body.  
  
That got its attention.  
  
In less than a second, the demon was in front of Inu Yasha, lashing out at him with extended claws.  
  
'Shit.' Thought Inu Yasha frantically. 'It's almost finished absorbing the Shikon No Tama...that idiot girl needs to find something to destroy it with quickly...'  
  
"Oi!" He hollered out to Kagome this time.  
  
Her head lifted ever so slightly so she could give him a dirty look. He ignored it.  
  
"Take that light and go get the weapons! I'll hold the demon off until you come back! Hurry and go!"  
  
What if she didn't feel like it?  
  
Kagome wasn't feeling all that hot right now, and even though it was important, and her future depended on it, and blah blah blah, why didn't she get a say in the matter? Why couldn't she hold it off while he went and got the bow and arrows?  
  
Her head hit the ground with a soft thump when she let it back down again, a little bit of dust floating into the air when she did so. He could do it himself.  
  
"HEY! WENCH! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Inu Yasha roared while jumping back to avoid another set of claws coming at him out of nowhere. "WHAT, ARE YOU STUPID!? HURRY UP AND GET THE STUFF, DAMMIT! GO! GET UP AND GO, I WANNA GET OUT OF HERE AND FAR AWAY FROM YOU! DIMWIT!"  
  
He noticed that insulting her was having the desired effect, though he hoped that she wouldn't come back with a set of bows and arrows and shoot him as oppose to the demon she was supposed to be knocking off.  
  
"THAT'S RIGHT, GET OUTTA HERE! HURRY UP YOU FAT SLOW OAF!"  
  
That was it.  
  
Kagome stood up angrily with the flashlight in her hand. She was so incredibly mad that she was almost seeing red...she wasn't thinking straight. Who did this jerk think he was, calling her names and telling her what to do!?  
  
Normally Kagome was an understandable, kind, happy, forgiving person, but this...THIS was a crime against her that was unforgivable.  
  
Yes, she would go get weapons, but when she came back she was going to saw those cuddly little puppy dog ears right off the top of Inu Yasha's head with an arrow head.  
  
She stalked off to the best of her abilities, trying to show Inu Yasha how mad she really was, but he wasn't paying attention. He was a little preoccupied trying to keep an unruly demon at bay.  
  
Kagome found the old shrine house easily...  
  
If it hadn't been for that boor Inu Yasha wandering off on his own, thinking he knew the way around her house like he'd lived in it for 11 years...All he had to do was walk down the pathway leading from the house to the God tree, then turn right. It was a simple shack that tried to stay hidden from sight made from planks of rotting wood, but despite the fact that it was an eyesore to anybody who was unfortunate enough to accidentally lay eyes upon it there was a well that had much history behind it. But other than the well, it held the bow and arrows that Kagome and the big red idiot were looking for.  
  
Kagome grasped the wooden bow in her slender fingers carefully and slowly pulled it from the wall. Chills ran along her spine as she studied the bow in the light of the flashlight, and goose bumps lined her flesh in neat little rows.  
  
'That was weird.' Kagome thought uncertainly. It felt like she had picked up something she had lost a long time ago, despite the fact that she had never handled the bow before in her life.  
  
Kagome shone the light at the decaying wall and discovered there were only three arrows being displayed. She could only hope that her mother had had wonderful aim when she used to practice archery, and that some of that magnificent aim had been passed down to Kagome herself.  
  
After snatching all three arrows off the wall hurriedly, Kagome slung the bow over her shoulder in a very unappealing manner, and managed to keep the arrows tucked under her arm securely without hurting her side. The next step was to find that lumbering dupe labeled Inu Yasha.  
  
The flashlight's beam of luminescence bobbled around ahead of the girl who was holding it maladroitly as she half hobbled, half lurched around the trees that surrounded her house blindly.  
  
"OI!" She screamed out into the night, still slightly peeved about the select names Inu Yasha had decided to call her.  
  
"Woman! Get you ass over here now!!!!!!!!!" Inu Yasha bellowed from her right.  
  
'He's not too far away.' Kagome thought, trotting off towards the grunts of Inu Yasha that seemed to be getting louder and sounding slightly more strained.  
  
There was a flash of bright red that swooped before Kagome in an instant, subsequently followed by the feeling of wind all around her. She looked up angrily at the dog-boy above her.  
  
"Bout time you showed up." He growled at her while zipping through the trees hastily.  
  
"Why didn't YOU go get the bow and arrows? If you knew I was going to be a 'fat slow oaf', you could've gone yourself!" Kagome shrieked back at him as he dodged past a tree.  
  
Inu Yasha ignored her last comment and took the flashlight from her clammy hand and pointed it ahead.  
  
"Next time you see it...shoot it. Do you understand or do I need to simplify that for you?"  
  
Kagome mumbled something incoherent that was probably something parents would not want their small children hearing, but readied the bow she had anyways.  
  
With only three arrows, and being carried by a half-demon zooming through the trees by her house, how hard could it be to shoot a blackened target and destroy it?  
  
Kagome tried reviewing the proper bow techniques in her mind as Inu Yasha ran and flew and ran some more. She was beginning to think that they'd never run into the damned demon until...  
  
"Oi, wench!!!"  
  
Her head shot up just in time to catch a glimpse of a creature born of a wicked evil nightmare coming straight at her and Inu Yasha.  
  
A broken porcelain mask that glowed a dull blackish-white in the dark covered its face. It's eyes were wide, pupils dilated until almost no white showed, and its greasy black hair blew about in a wild frenzy in the wind.  
  
The long tattered fabric it had covering its body fanned out around it's back and blew about crazily as razor sharp claws extended from where sleeves would be expected to be on a normal shirt or top.  
  
Proper techniques be damned, and Kagome began to scream while notching an arrow onto the bow, and she continued to scream after she pulled the string back and fired.  
  
The first arrow was fired, and it flew into the night's sky as Kagome's target whizzed past her head, claws scraping her cheek as it went by. Blood leaked from the three incisions, but they were only minor problems compared to the problem Kagome was facing now.  
  
"You idiot! What the hell do you think you were doing!? Did you even aim at the damned thing!?!? It was right there, how could you miss it!?" Inu Yasha berated the already flustered girl he was carrying.  
  
Kagome's cheeks flushed crimson in annoyance. She was getting tired of all the verbal abuse she was receiving from this ungrateful bastard.  
  
"I tried my best!" She began.  
  
"But it was right THERE!"  
  
"I've never shot an arrow before in my life!"  
  
"I'VE never shot an arrow before in MY life, and I still could've hit that damned thing!"  
  
Kagome scrambled heatedly to put the second arrow into place and aim it at Inu Yasha's head.  
  
"I'm tired of you telling me what to do and how I do things wrong! If you want something done right, do it yourself, I'd like to see you try!"  
  
Inu Yasha didn't say anything, just kept on much to Kagome's exasperation.  
  
"Well, aren't you going to say anything!? Can't you back up what you say?" Kagome prodded him with the tip of her arrow lightly.  
  
"There it is, AIM this time!" Inu Yasha responded sharply as Kagome lifted her eyes to what was ahead of her.  
  
Indeed, the demon was there in front of the God tree, waiting for Kagome and Inu Yasha to pass so it could commence its attack on said couple.  
  
Kagome brought her arms up carefully, trying to hold them still as Inu Yasha took another bounding leap into the air.  
  
Aim...  
  
Aim...  
  
Please be true to your aim arrow...  
  
And Kagome let it fly.  
  
She watched in amazement as it soared through the air at breakneck speeds straight towards its target. From the tip a burst of pink energy was emitted and soon the entire arrow was enveloped in a bright pink light.  
  
"That color is the same color as..." Kagome thought out loud.  
  
"I thought so!" Inu Yasha shouted.  
  
The arrow hit the tree behind it, and a feeling of icy cold dread gripped Kagome's chest as she realized that the glowing arrow passed right through the demon's body. Why hadn't it exploded upon contact or vaporized into thin air??  
  
"Good woman, your aim is improving. Now concentrate on the Jewel of the Four Souls. You can see it if you concentrate hard enough, so think hard and aim at that next time."  
  
"What!? I can't aim that accurately!" Kagome protested loudly.  
  
"It's the only way to defeat this thing while it's in possession of the jewel! You have to try!"  
  
"But trying isn't good enough!"  
  
"You're starting to sound like me, now shut the hell up and concentrate!"  
  
Kagome did just that after poking Inu Yasha's arm with the tip of her last arrow roughly.  
  
Her eyes slid shut and she focused all her thoughts onto the pink sphere she had absorbed into her body naught but yesterday evening. It was hers, her responsibility, and it was calling out to her.  
  
Calling to its protector...  
  
Kagome's eyes snapped open and she loaded her final arrow. It was now or never.  
  
Boy she hoped she wouldn't miss this one.  
  
She let the jewel's presence guide her aim and she inhaled sharply, ready to fire.  
  
"Don't miss!" Inu Yasha said somewhat encouragingly.  
  
Gee thanks.  
  
"You're gone, demon!" Kagome shouted into the surrounding blackness.  
  
The arrow flew from the bow at an incredible speed, and pink light enveloped it quickly as it went soaring through the air, true to it's aim, just as Kagome had hoped for.  
  
As the arrow disappeared into the darkness ahead Kagome and Inu Yasha could only wait for the inevitable...  
  
Then something happened.  
  
In the distance a tiny glint of pink flashed once...then twice, then it was twinkling and growing larger.  
  
'I did it!' Kagome thought triumphantly.  
  
Rays of pink shot out from the spot ahead of the duo and illuminated their surroundings in brilliant radiance. The light was becoming blinding, and Inu Yasha had to shut his sensitive eyes before it started to burn.  
  
"I did it! I did it!!!! AAAAAH! INU YASHA, SIT!!!" Kagome squealed.  
  
Inu Yasha went plummeting down to the Earth, narrowly escaping a thick branch hanging in his path, as Kagome was launched forwards and went soaring into the light.  
  
"WEEEENCH, WHAT WAS THAT F-"  
  
Thwack.  
  
As Kagome was soaring through the air she could see the jewel hovering in the heavens, much like herself.  
  
The demon was gone...thank the gods.  
  
She reached out towards the jewel as she approached it, yet the moment her fingers made first contact with it the light tripled in it's brightness, and the Shikon Jewel shattered.  
  
Kagome's stomach seemed to leap onto her heart, which leaped into her throat as she watched in horrified silence as the jewel split into at least 12 different pieces and each piece shot into different directions.  
  
Then Kagome began her descent back towards the Earth.  
  
What had she done!? Broken, it was broken! And it was all her fault, and now she would fall back down to the ground and probably die upon contact.  
  
She had tried so hard to do something right, and once she accomplished her first task, another was born to show her how wrong she finished the first one.  
  
Kagome didn't scream or cry out as she fell towards the ground below, just shut her eyes and allowed herself to glide down.  
  
Death was probably a better way to escape Inu Yasha's wrath when he found out what she had done anyways.  
  
There was a soft muffled 'fwump' as Kagome landed...in someone's arms.  
  
'Oh no...' She thought miserably as her side began to ache once more. 'I'm going to open my eyes and Inu Yasha is going to start telling me how useless and stupid I am...why did he catch me!? Why!? Just let me fall! He never asks what I want...perhaps I wanted to become a permanent splatter on the floor!'  
  
Her eyes peeled open slowly and Kagome looked up to meet the gaze of her savior.  
  
Her heart jumped as she realized that he was...SMILING at her.  
  
Why!?  
  
Stop it!  
  
Kagome couldn't hold it in any longer and buried her face into his chest and began bawling. Her sobs wracked her tiny body and she shook in Inu Yasha's arms.  
  
"What's wrong?" Came the voice from above her.  
  
She replied into the red in front of her, but unfortunately he didn't understand muffled, which was a common language for Kagome to use whenever she was feeling distressed or embarrassed.  
  
He peeled her away from his chest and looked down at her.  
  
Her tears shone in the moonlight and he shook his head while wiping them away.  
  
Kagome's eyes opened once again and she shyly looked up to meet his fiery golden gaze.  
  
"I'm sorry, Inu Yasha, I broke it. I broke the sacred jewel and it split and the pieces shot off and I don't know where they went, and...I failed, just like you thought I would!" Kagome admitted guiltily.  
  
Inu Yasha began to grin down at her and she shrunk under his gaze.  
  
'Oh gods, he's gone insane and now he's going to feast on my insides.'  
  
"Dummy, that's what I intended on happening." He laughed mockingly down at her.  
  
"Wha?"  
  
"When I told you to shoot at the Jewel of the Four Souls your arrow was going to hit it and shatter it. Are you really that stupid!? When you shoot an arrow at something like that, most likely it's going to break."  
  
Inu Yasha's mirth reverberated into the night as Kagome tried to fit the pieces of the puzzle together in her head.  
  
"But what are we going to do about it?"  
  
"Go pick up the pieces, of course."  
  
"You mean both of us?"  
  
"Of course, idiot. You can sense the jewel, and you're obviously too weak to be finding things yourself so I'll be protecting you."  
  
Kagome let his obscure words sink into her head, and the scrambled pieces of the puzzle somewhat made a picture.  
  
As she was looking confused, Inu Yasha took her shoulders gently and smiled down at her.  
  
"You did good, Kagome."  
  
Her face lit up like a Christmas tree at that.  
  
First, he had complimented her for the first time ever; second, he had used her name for the first time ever.  
  
"Thank you." She responded bashfully.  
  
"If you weren't so stupid, I'd almost be glad to be working with you."  
  
Kagome took that as a half-compliment and smiled up at him, wiping the remaining tears off of her cheeks.  
  
"Thanks, Inu Yasha."  
  
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.  
  
Cat: ::Is doing an Irish Jig:: Hooray, another chappie done! HAPPY ST. PATTIE'S DAY! ::Pinches Dannee a few times::  
  
Dannee: ::Shoves Cat onto the floor, then steps on her face:: Stop that, it's not St. Patrick's day yet!  
  
Cat: ::Jumps up:: Cat is celebrating early. Dannee: Anyways... ::Celebrates:: Finally! Sorry it took so long guys, but the broken muse and lack of response to this story doesn't motivate me much to write...so...  
  
Cat: Hint hint, wink wink...REVIEWS!  
  
Dannee: Please, I really want feedback to this story. You guys are my inspiration since my muse hasn't been around much, nor helping me much.  
  
Cat: ::Cries:: Cat is sorry Dannee, Cat is having friend issues.  
  
Dannee: ::Pats her head:: It's alright, we talked about it, and you don't need your friends.  
  
Cat: Cat's friends are garbage.  
  
Dannee: Good girl.  
  
Cat: ::Purrs::  
  
Dannee: Anyways, to the few of you who have reviewed, thanks!  
  
Cat, Shiari1, Miroku the Virtuous Monk, Josie, kokoro, drake220, Inu- Marosan, writerofascientist, Vampire'sBlood, Samantha-1434, StarryEyedChick, and Melinda.  
  
Cat: REVIEWS!  
  
Dannee: Please! If you know someone who is able to review, MAKE 'EM! T.T I'm so desperate and lonely with my lack of reviews. ::Cries::  
  
Cat: ::Pets Dannee:: There there... And readers, make sure to check out Dannee's Xanga site if reader is interested in the updates for this story. Dannee may write faster if Dannee gets more feedback, now go REVIEW EVERYONE! 


	7. She dreamt of Giant Tomatos

Dannee: ::Has just been risen from the dead:: I remember this place. ::Shakes her fist angrily:: I liked it better in the afterlife.  
  
Cat: ::Is weeping on the ground:: Nobody loves Cat and Dannee, nobody reviews. Only 3 reviews from chappie 6! Y.Y ::Starts to pull out her hair:: Nobody likes Cat, everybody hates Cat, guess Cat will go eat worms...  
  
Dannee: ::Sighs:: It's true...Is my story that bad?...I really need to start getting more reviews; it takes me so long to write another chapter with the lack of response to this story. I might just give it up.  
  
Cat: ::Is eating worms while sobbing uncontrollably::  
  
Dannee: ::Points at Cat:: Look what you guys have done to her. ::Shakes her head sadly:: Seriously guys, please review if you like it. Even if you don't like it, review and tell me what's wrong so I can change it so then you'll like it. ^_^ ::Puppy eyes:: Please?  
  
Cat: ::Hiccups loudly and then stuffs another worm into her mouth::  
  
Sleeper Awoken  
  
Kagome's bare feet padded softly against the hard wood floor of her school's gymnasium. Why was she at her school in the gym...in her pajamas?? Wasn't it Saturday or something?  
  
Well, considering the fact that the gym was deserted, save for her, she considered herself to be safe for the moment and began searching around for clues as to why she was there in the first place. She stopped dead in her tracks when the lights overhead suddenly hummed to life and a happy giant tomato, complete with face, descended from above.  
  
She stared at the tomato for a moment before glomping it.  
  
"Yaay! A giant tomato!" She screeched loudly, causing a few windows in the gym to crack.  
  
During her moment of bliss with tomato, she failed to notice Inu Yasha enter the school's fitness center from the back. He looked peeved about something and when she finally gave note to him his ears twitched about.  
  
"Oh hi Inu Yasha, what's up?"  
  
She stepped away from the tomato for a moment to study him and try to decipher why he seemed to be in such a bad mood.  
  
"Watch me destroy it with just one hand!" He bellowed, voice echoing off the walls.  
  
The tomato tried to make a run for it, but alas...despite the fact that it could probably outsmart the half-demon boy, it could not outrun him.  
  
"No!!!!!!!! Inu Yasha stooooooooooop!" Kagome wailed.  
  
His claws sliced through the tomato with ease as Kagome bawled and yowled at him to stop. Its pieces hit the ground with wet splats, and the despairing girl could only watch in dismay as ribbons fell to the floorboards.  
  
"You, wench! You need to wake up and get going! We need to start searching for Shikon shards before they fall into someone else's hands! Are you listening to me!? I need you to go out, find the shards, do some math problems, recite to me the names of the generals in the war of the Tang era, put the shards together, and make me some Ramen!"  
  
"Waaaaah! Inu Yasha you big meanie!! ...SIT!"  
  
Somewhere across town there was a loud thump subsequently followed by a sequence of muffled words that made women turn up their noses and children cry or wet their pants.  
  
Kagome rolled over in bed and slowly lifted her eyelids until her off-white ceiling swam into focus.  
  
"What a horrible dream." She said, wiping her eyes and sniffling.  
  
She hadn't had a dream that horrifying with Inu Yasha as the antagonist in almost a whole week! Then again, she hadn't seen the irate boy in almost twice the amount of time and she was beginning to feel slightly guilty about not taking her own time to go out and seek him or jewel shards...not that she had any idea as to where she would start looking for either of the previously mentioned.  
  
Yes, it had been two weeks since the night of the attack on her brother Sota and her, in their own damn home! Fortunately the police had decided to arrive just after the demon had been discarded and Kagome had kicked Inu Yasha out of her house...  
  
Sota was in the stage when prank phone calling everyone, everywhere was almost as good as blowing up gray blobs that were supposed to be zombies on the TV screen, so consequently the police did not take kindly to the Higurashi residence. They proved to be ineffective though, staying just long enough to poke around the house a little bit and get in Kagome's way.  
  
Yet despite their inefficacy, they escorted Kagome to the hospital where she tenderly convened with her mother and grandfather.  
  
Sota ended up with 68 stitches all over his little arms and legs...there were even four deep gashes on his side that needed stitching. Kagome gawked at the amazing number of stitches he had needed, yet it seemed reasonable considering the numerous wounds he had taken and the length that they were.  
  
Her mother had immediately noticed Kagome's bloodied and torn clothing and the wound Kagome herself had acquired and checked Kagome in without hesitation. She ended up with 15 stitches, which was shameful compared to Sota's amount.  
  
But now, 2 weeks later, everything was returning to normal; Sota was playing his video games unremittingly only stopping to eat, sleep, make a prank phone call, or use the restroom, Kagome was her optimistic self as usual, attending school, doing homework akin to a good girl, and getting lost in her homework because she had absolutely no idea what she was doing, while grandpa spouted off ancient myths and legends in the background concurrently as her mother cooked dinner.  
  
Ah, life was good...  
  
And normal...  
  
...And...  
  
Where the hell was Inu Yasha?!  
  
Though Kagome hated, loathed, despised and all together resented the thought, she did, somewhere deep inside the caverns of her churning brain, miss the annoying loud-mouthed jerk. He HAD helped her get rid of that demon in her bathroom...  
  
He HAD kinda taught her how to use a bow and arrow in a forceful and unkind way.  
  
He HAD eaten all her Ramen the night of the attack, that bastard!  
  
Her stomach growled punctually reminding her of her existing hunger and she got out of bed quickly, hoping that her mother had cooked something good for breakfast.  
  
It was definitely Saturday and she had no time to think of oddly dressed dummies. Today was her day off, and her schedule should consist of nothing but good times, she reminded herself whilst hopping down the stairs, two at a time.  
  
"Ah!" Came her mother's voice from inside the kitchen. "Kagome, are you finally awake? It's so late now. Come in and have breakfast with me."  
  
Kagome entered the kitchen hastily upon her loving mother's request and smiled.  
  
"Good morning, mom. What's for breakfast?" Kagome greeted.  
  
"I made us some rice, miso soup, roasted salmon and pickles. Take what you want."  
  
"Thanks!"  
  
Kagome grabbed a plate and then used her chopsticks to scoop her breakfast onto it and then sat down at the table and commenced eating. Her mother sat down on the opposite side of the table with her own food and they both ate in contented silence for a while.  
  
Mrs. Higurashi was the first one to break the silence.  
  
"Oh, Kagome your little friend was over this morning looking for you. He didn't seem familiar in how to use the front door though, I found him outside your window with his face pressed against the glass. He was so adorable the way his fluffy little ears moved this way and that, and I just had to give them a squeeze."  
  
Kagome's chopsticks froze in midair, halfway to her mouth as her appetite suddenly ran off without second thoughts. A few pieces of rice fell back onto her plate. The instant her mother had completed her sentence Kagome was left with only one image in her mind...  
  
...Inu Yasha outside her windowpane, face smushed against the glass as much as it could be, claws scratching against the window in attempt to get through the transparent barrier, petite snowy white puppy ears tweaking about, and red clothed butt sticking directly out in the air for anyone and everyone to see...including her mother.  
  
"Mother?"  
  
"Kagome?"  
  
She was speechless, and her face was turning dominantly red.  
  
"You...SQUEEZED his ears!?!?"  
  
"...Yes, dear. I did just that."  
  
"Mooooooooom! His ears! Aaaargh!"  
  
"What's the problem Kagome? He didn't make a fuss over it."  
  
Well that was good, considering that if he had wanted to make a fuss over it, her mother would probably be looking a little bit like the giant tomato had after Inu Yasha was through with it.  
  
Kagome rose from the table quickly, completed with her half-touched breakfast her mother had so generously created for her. She dumped her dishes into the sink with a clatter and rinsed them with water for a few seconds; somehow cleaning her dishes seemed a little less important than finding that menacing hanyou at the moment.  
  
"Where are you going?" Her mother asked calmly, as if her daughter left an unfinished breakfast to hunt for puppy-dog eared boys on a regular basis every morning.  
  
"To find that idiot!" Kagome responded curtly.  
  
"Have fun, dear."  
  
Kagome didn't answer, she was already flying up the stairs towards her room to get changed as fast as she could.  
  
She pondered over the reasons as to why she was getting so bent out of shape over finding Inu Yasha so hurriedly...  
  
Well...lets see...  
  
He could be making trouble for people other than herself if he was in town, which could be a possibility.  
  
2. He could get lost or hurt not fully understanding what a car really was and what power it could have coupled with high speeds.  
  
3. He was an idiot.  
  
4. Due to his awkward clothing and senseless attitude, he could run into trouble and/or attract unwanted attention towards himself.  
  
5. While attracting this needless attention he could get frustrated.  
  
6. Inu Yasha + frustration + people + lethal claws = chunks of people decorating the streets...in lament terms, not good.  
  
7. ...He was an idiot.  
  
...There was always the chance that she missed him, even if it was in the tiniest ration known to man, but Kagome shook her head a few times to clear her mind of all ridiculous thoughts once she finished dressing herself in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. After she tied her hair back into a high ponytail, she was off.  
  
Since the current day was Saturday, that meant down in town would be even busier due to children who weren't in school, which meant even more trouble on Inu Yasha's half if he was there. That's why Kagome worried.  
  
She could just imagine poor naive Hojo riding his bike, like he always did, along the sidewalk innocently, minding his own business and unfortuitously colliding with Inu Yasha. Hojo would most likely offer Inu Yasha a remedy for his health and Inu Yasha would then proceed to cut Hojo into nice little bite-sized pieces.  
  
Well...maybe having Inu Yasha on the loose wasn't such a bad idea after all...  
  
As Kagome was trotting along the sidewalk, she heard something...  
  
Creak...  
  
Uh oh...  
  
Her speed increased a little.  
  
Creak, creak, squeeeeak...  
  
Kagome's face was beginning to pale ever so slightly.  
  
"Kagomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"  
  
Oh no, it was...  
  
"Kagome, it's me! Wait up!!!"  
  
Kagome halted as a blue bicycle being ridden by a dense boy rocketed by; leaving Kagome behind in the dust it was creating.  
  
She coughed and waved her hand around in front of her face to try and clear the air before her as something in the near distance emitted a deafening crashing sound.  
  
"Hojo, are you all right?" Kagome queried, shuffling over to the heap of intertwined limbs and wheels that used to be Kagome's oblivious friend Hojo.  
  
"Aaaah, yes Kagome, I am quite all right now that you're here."  
  
Kagome sighed and shook her head.  
  
Hojo extended a hand upwards towards Kagome, indicating that he wanted help up, but Kagome's mind was not with the injured boy before her. She was staring at something across the street...  
  
Something wearing bright fire engine red...  
  
"Inu Yasha!" Kagome exclaimed, taking off across the street making a few drivers slam on their car brakes and honk their horns at the psychotic girl.  
  
"What are you doing, Inu Yasha!?" She screeched angrily coming up behind the bright red, white haired blob before her.  
  
When her hand made contact with the thing's shoulder, or what she thought was a shoulder she realized she had been mistaken...horribly and terribly mistaken.  
  
Around turned a very elderly looking old woman that made Kagome's skin pepper with goose bumps.  
  
The woman's face looked like it was going to fall off at any given moment, and all three teeth inside the gigantic gaping mouth were an odd shade of brown and yellow. The greasy hair on her head trembled when she sucked in raggedy breaths and smelled of something unearthly or rather like a mixture of rotten milk, eggs, bad fish and decay; Kagome found it difficult not to gag.  
  
When the woman grunted at Kagome a long rope of drool embarked on its descent towards the waiting pavement below.  
  
"O-oh, I'm so sorry, I thought you were someone else." Kagome admitted sheepishly, resisting the urge to cover her nose and bolt back across the street to Hojo.  
  
The woman rumbled something unintelligible again and then her mouth cracked into a face splitting grin as her pudgy hand reached out towards Kagome.  
  
Kagome looked left.  
  
Then right.  
  
Then took off down the street as fast as her skinny legs could take her without snapping in half from charging away at breakneck speeds.  
  
She kept checking over her shoulder to make sure that nothing was following her, deciding that she wouldn't stop until she reached the edge of the world.  
  
She sped by people, kids, plants, trees, stores that usually would've made her stop and go googley eyed, restaurants, and...the rest was all a blur to her.  
  
Once she found it safe, and ran out of breath, Kagome willed herself to slow to a dawdling walk...then she just stopped.  
  
Gasping for breath she leaned back against the wall closest to her and sank down to the ground. This was impossible, and she had never known that such strange people existed.  
  
"Kagome! Kagome, there you are!"  
  
Gods, this boy had a tracking device on her or something.  
  
"Sorry about that Hojo...I had the sudden urge to...run away...very fast."  
  
"Oh, it's alright Kagome. Look, an ice cream parlor, would you care to join me for a scoop of ice cream since we're here together now?"  
  
"I'd really like to Hojo, but I actually have to find someone now...as soon as possible..."  
  
Kagome continued sputtering out incoherent reasons as to why she couldn't eat ice cream at the moment while Hojo helped her up and dragged her inside the small shop and sat her down at a table.  
  
"But Hojo, I need to find this person before...trouble, lots of it...because...giant tomato...ribbons and you...end up the same way...so y'see..." She trailed off into nothingness.  
  
Sighing, she shut her eyes and began to rub her temples to try and relieve herself of the pressure building up inside her brain. It would explode at the rate she was going, and she was quite certain that the people in this small parlor would not cherish cleaning up the remnants of her brain. Besides, she kinda needed it for her math test on Tuesday and if she truly needed to, she could just let it burst in there and have her teacher get in trouble by the pasty janitor. He deserved it, the bastard.  
  
While Kagome was envisioning her head blowing into tiny bits Hojo took the liberty to order her ice cream, as well as himself. Kagome sat at the table with no expression on her face.  
  
"So Kagome, what have you been up to lately? How is your brother?" Hojo tried with his best and oh so charming capability to strike up a decent conversation.  
  
Kagome sat there, looking stupid.  
  
"Aaah...Kagome?"  
  
She couldn't have looked stupider if she had been drooling and picking her nose.  
  
"Kagome?"  
  
Her ear almost twitched off her head when...  
  
SCHNORT!  
  
When she spun around to look at the booth behind her, she nearly produced a miniature sonic boom, which would have ruined the table her and Hojo were sitting at.  
  
"Inu Yasha!?!?" She squealed elatedly.  
  
A tiny boy gawked at her with huge saucer-like eyes. His black hair was covered wholly with vanilla ice cream, and a large blob of spit and creamy leftovers dribbled onto his lap. His nose began to run.  
  
"Whoops..." Kagome muttered turning back around, growing a pretty shade of pink.  
  
"Kagome, are you all right? You don't seem to be acting like yourself today..." Hojo admitted honestly.  
  
It was true, Kagome was rather jumpy and twitchy, but then again Hojo was the one who invited her to eat ice cream with him, so he shouldn't be complaining.  
  
"Yeah, I'm alright, Hojo, my mind is just somewhere else today. I need to go, I'm really sorry."  
  
Kagome stood from her seat slowly and waved to Hojo apologetically. She did feel vaguely bad about leaving the poor boy by himself after he had just bought her ice cream, but she also knew he wouldn't hold it against her. There was just something more significant to locate right now.  
  
Once she was gone, the waitress came out and placed two hot fudge sundaes before Hojo, then left him to his ice cream. He stared at the two sundaes for a moment, and then began shoveling the ice cream into his mouth hungrily. Having Kagome leave was turning out towards his advantage.  
  
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.  
  
Kagome's feet were dragging against the pavement now, all encouraging thoughts of finding Inu Yasha today drained from her body.  
  
It was getting dark, and it was time for her to just go home, Inu Yasha be damned. She took her time to look for him and that was good enough. If he couldn't find her when he needed her, well then that was his own problem.  
  
Kagome yawned and stretched herself out languidly. Her legs were sore from walking around town all day, and she just wanted to take a long hot bath. Maybe with some bubbles.  
  
Bubbles were good.  
  
Thinking of bubbles and warm water, Kagome turned absent-mindedly to her right and started down a dark alley. The darkness grew, the further she wandered in but Kagome's eyes were still glazed over with visions of her bath.  
  
...................................  
  
Wait a minute...  
  
She didn't recognize this place.  
  
'Where the heck am I?' Her mind shrieked at her.  
  
It was black all around and had her and Inu Yasha not defeated that darkness dwelling demon two weeks prior, she would've lost all hope for her chances of survival.  
  
Her thoughts were cut short when a strong pair of arms enveloped her and squeezed her tight, holding her in place.  
  
Knowing her only defense, Kagome used it and screamed as loud as she could, voice echoing off the walls in the dark alley. If anybody had heard her other than herself and her captor, she wouldn't know.  
  
.¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸..¸¸.·´ `·.¸¸.  
  
Dannee: There! ::Nods triumphantly:: Chapter 7 is complete! Now I want reviews!  
  
Cat: Yay Dannee, you finally did it! Cat and Dannee shall go out for ice cream and Chinese food for dinner tonight! And for dessert...Ice cream!!!!!!  
  
Dannee: -.- Anyways, thanks to the 4 who reviewed last chapter...  
  
RedKennypuppy, Lilanimatedgirlinred, drake220, and Shiari.  
  
Reviews are always greatly appreciated...  
  
Thanks for readin'.  
  
Now GO! And REVIEW!! ^_^ 


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